Bursary News

The Education Vice President of the New Zealand University Students' Association, Mr Michael Shaskey, to day suggested that the Government should "get its act in order and immediately fulfil the promises it made to students in 1975."

"The Government is thoroughly and undeniably in breach of the commitments it made to students in the 1975 campaign," Mr Shaskey said. "Since the Government took office students have seen no significant improvements in the bursary system and they are getting anxious about the absence of any changes. There have been no adjustments in bursary values to take account of increased costs, the Government has not placed technical institute students on the same relative basis as university students, and there has been no appreciable progress with the Government's review of the Standard Tertiary Bursary."

Mr Shaskey stated that all of these commitments were given by the National Party "freely and without coercion" during the 1975 General Election campaign. "However," he continued, "their subsequent lack of action makes all of their rosy promises look like a cheap vote buying ploy that they never had any intention of honouring."

Mr Shaskey explained that students were having real difficulty in making ends meet and the longer the Government dragged its feet the longer students would have to make do with nothing extra.

"The only thing they have done is to convene a conference on tertiary bursaries in December 1976," he stated. "The conference made recommendations for immediate interim improvements in the bursary system, pending the outcome of the complete review. The Government has ignored these recommendations and has done nothing to get the review itself moving. Students are gravely worried, and their worry is founded on a reasonable fear that the Government will do nothing. They have done nothing yet," Mr Shaskey concluded.